Real Sociedad 1-2 Real Madrid: Controversial new Liga leaders

Real Sociedad 1-2 Real Madrid: Controversial new Liga leaders

La victoria del Madrid sitúa a los de Zidane en el liderato
La victoria del Madrid sitúa a los de Zidane en el liderato | sport

Madrid took advantage of Barca's draw to go top but.... it was hard to say this was fair

Gerard Pique was not happy with the state of the title race on Friday, and it is inferred that he’s not happy with the officials either. God knows what he thinks after this.

It wasn’t that any of the decisions that went Madrid’s way was shockingly bad on an individual basis, it was just that all of them did.

Whether it was Casemiro avoiding a red card for an elbow on Mikel Merino, or Vinicius Junior getting the softest of penalties, or Adnan Januzaj’s strike being ruled out tenuously because Thibaut Courtois’s sight was being blocked, or Karim Benzema’s goal counting despite it hitting his arm…. Madrid got what they wanted.

James Rodriguez started instead of Eden Hazard and the first half played out quietly, beyond Casemiro’s aggression towards Merino. The game revolved around these controversial moments.

The next was Vinicius going down in the box under pressure from Diego Llorente. It might not have been a foul at all, or at best it was a soft one.

Regardless, the penalty was given, upheld by VAR, and tucked away by Sergio Ramos. Goal No 68 for him, making him La Liga’s top scoring defender, although his joy was soon tempered when he hurt his knee and had to go off.

Januzaj equalised, or thought he had, but it turned out to be dubiously disallowed because Real Sociedad had a player offside who was deemed to be interfering with Courtois’s line of sight.

Then Benzema struck but despite Sociedad complaints about him controlling it with his arm, the goal was given.

Merino’s late strike helped create an exciting ending but it was too little, too late, against Madrid and against the decisions that went their way time and again.

Topics with the letter